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Coach Sabri Lamouchi is urging caution ahead of El Jaish’s AFC Champions League Round of 16 second-leg clash with fellow Qataris Lekhwiya today despite their four-goal lead from the first leg.
A brace from Brazilian Romarinho and further goals from Moroccan Abderrazzaq Hamedalleh and Mohamed Methnani have put El Jaish in a commanding position to advance to their first ever quarter-final of the continental competition.
But after suffering a heavy 4-1 defeat to Al Hilal of Saudi Arabia in their previous home fixture in the tournament, El Jaish will need to be wary of complacency ahead of the clash at Jassim Bin Hamad Stadium.
“We achieved an important and big result in the first leg and this result got us closer to the next round,” said Lamouchi yesterday.
Not easy
“However, that doesn’t mean our task will be easy because I believe Lekhwiya will be strongly motivated to avenge their defeat.”
Making only their second appearance in the AFC Champions League, El Jaish won their opening three group D fixtures, before picking up a draw against Uzbekistan’s Nasaf to secure their last 16 qualification with two games to spare.
“We need to fully concentrate and play as if we didn’t win the first leg. Lekhwiya’s win in the Emir Cup [over Al Sadd on Saturday] will give them motivation to win this match and we should not underestimate them,” added Lamouchi, whose side were eliminated at the Round of 16 in the 2013 edition.
Lekhwiya, meanwhile, will be looking for an early goal if they are to have any chance of advancing to the last eight for the second successive year.
And they go into the tie with renewed confidence following a penalty shootout victory against Al Sadd after a 2-2 saw them lift the Emir Cup at the weekend.
“We know that our task will be very hard after the big defeat in the first leg,” said Lekhwiya coach Djamel Belmadi, who will again be without injured striker Mohammed Muntari.
“But we will not give up and we will try our best to get the best possible result. In football anything is possible and we will be fighting to win until the end.
“We have prepared well for the match and hopefully we can have a good performance and get the result we are looking for,” added the Algerian.
Now to see what happens when the two rivals face each other today.
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